Led by Gov. JB Pritzker in national TV appearances, the political establishment in Illinois and Chicago is listing its triumphs as the Democratic National Convention in Chicago nears. Mayor Brandon Johnson, too, is “looking to spread his vision for progressive governance on everything from raising wages for workers in Chicago to achieving a ceasefire in Gaza,” as The Nation recently put it.
Through a progressive’s lens, successes are real: a higher minimum wage, establishment of the state as an abortion haven, a major capital budget, aggressive green energy mandates, welcoming and sanctuary policies for migrants and more. We publish those claims as they are made. Illinois may indeed be “the most progressive state in the nation and damn proud of it,” as Gov. Pritzker says.
But there’s another side to the story, thousands of pages long, of severely crippling results of progressive policies.
What follows is a summary of the other consequences of progressive policies for Illinois and Chicago. Each point is documented by facts and data. Links are to original sources or to Wirepoints reports that cite the original sources.
For still more details, see our page linked here collecting all our pertinent articles and research grouped by topic.
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Fleeing population and tax base
Stagnant economy and job market
Expensive and broken education system
Rampant Crime
Suffocating taxes
Pension crisis ignored
Massive spending on illegal immigrants
No Equity – Failure by Their Own Standard
Economic policy centered on statism and doomed focus on renewable energy
Free speech under assault and autocracy
Disastrous pandemic management yet no accountability
Still more